NHL will make decision on draft soon
May follow nfl lead with virtual event
The National Hockey League will make a decision soon on whether the NHL draft will be held in June.
After NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and deputy commissioner Bill Daly discussed the idea of holding the 2020 draft in early June with the general managers during a conference call last Tuesday, they aren’t going to allow for a drawn-out discussion because if the draft lottery and the draft are going to be held virtually, plans have to be put in place.
If the NHL does finish its regular season, hold the playoffs and award the Stanley Cup in the summer if the threat of the novel coronavirus across North America has subsided, the lottery and draft would be held before the year is actually completed — but the league is trying to be creative and, as a result, has asked GMS to be open- minded to the idea instead of just quickly dismissing it.
“We are still in the process of vetting club reactions,” Daly told Postmedia in an email Monday morning.
“Don’t have a precise timetable, but I would say we’ll have a decision relatively soon.”
Naturally, Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk, general manager Pierre Dorion and chief scout Trent Mann — along with the fan base — are waiting anxiously to see what route the league will take.
As Daly noted in an interview last week there’s “no perfect” solution but even if the league waits until the season is completed in September, many of the same hurdles are going to exist.
The Senators are among the teams that don’t have any issues with moving up the draft before the season is completed because let’s face it, they’ve got no complaints about their odds right now.
Daly indicated in his interview with Postmedia last Wednesday that points-percentage most likely would be used to decide the odds in the draft lottery.
If that’s the case, then the Detroit Red Wings would have the best odds at 18.5 per cent with a .275 winning- percentage, while the Senators would be second at 13.5 per cent with their own selection at .437.
However, the Senators also have the third-best odds at 11.5 per cent because the club owns the San Jose Sharks’ No. 1 pick as a result of the Erik Karlsson trade in September 2018.
That gives Ottawa a 25 per cent chance of winning the lottery under that format, so nothing would change for the Senators.
There is concern among some executives that it’s possible a team could win the lottery and then go on to win the Stanley Cup.
The reality is Bettman and Daly wouldn’t have presented this option to the GMS if they didn’t want it to happen.
The league wants to throw their broadcast partners a bone or two to help them with live programming because like everybody else in the sports world they’re suffering during this COVID-19 crisis by showing replays of old games.
The NFL draft was held virtually Thursday, Friday and Saturday and had huge television ratings.
The NHL GMS understand they need to do something to help stir up the level of interest in the draft, but it’s one of the key events on the league calendar every year.
The Senators have three selections in the first round, seven in the first two rounds and 13 in total.
You have to think they want to deal some of those picks for roster players for next season and that may be difficult under these circumstances.
A league executive suggested Monday the NHL might have to allow teams to make deals for future considerations as way to entice teams to accept the draft proposal. Basically, there’d have to be a level of trust involved for the teams because though they’d be registered as trades, they wouldn’t be completed until the season is actually completed and the playoffs are held.
“The draft is usually a good time to move a contract,” said a league executive.
And, of course, that element will be removed unless the 31 teams are able to come some sort of a decision on how trades are going to work, but that’s a hurdle that can be overcome to make this work.
Getting this right is important but it will also help to get hockey back on the radar screen, especially if the league intends to play through the summer months to try to get its season completed.
Teams always like to act in their own best interests, but in this case the league is suggesting they act for the greater good because this situation represents uncharted waters for everybody involved. Everybody may have to take one for the team by holding the draft in June, even if they don’t like it.